Philippa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden, etc.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree it would seem unlikely that the series was filmed over a length of time that would allow summer and winter to be filmed! But its so well done that it really is quite genuine looking!

I didn't notice where it was filmed either!! I meant to look and I didn't remember!

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's a beautifully done series [the 1989 adaptation], very faithful to the book.

...I love the theme music for this TV version too, I should add — the wistful, mysterious horn call at the beginning and end, with a charming "country garden" kind of theme (mainly clarinet and flute with harp, if I'm hearing it correctly) in between. I've always felt it fits the story perfectly.

...The boy who plays Tom is a bit annoyingly whiney in some scenes, but you do at least get the impression he's genuinely struggling to comprehend how and why the garden appears every night and how Time itself works, and he's upset that his aunt and uncle are completely baffled by all his strange questions and speculations! (I didn't guess, when I first read the book, what the twist at the end would be, so it was very satisfying to find out — and I love the way the final scene is done in the TV version! )

I've finished watching the serial and I agree with all that you say, Courtenay. An extremely satisfying adaptation which captures the wonder and poignancy of the original story. The ending hits exactly the right note - beautiful!

It was also really well filmed - with the garden being seen in spring, summer and winter, and all looked very realistic. Was the snow real snow? It certainly looked real.

The snow isn't real but looks pretty convincing on the whole, though a little frothy in some places. The DVD has a "Special Feature" consisting of an interview with the director, Christine Secombe, and she mentions that "video effects" were used for the snow.

Does it say in the credits where it was filmed, by the way? I've watched it many times, but for some reason I've never picked that up! I'd love to know if it's a real garden somewhere that might be open to the public.

Christine Secombe doesn't say much about the locations except that the gardens and the exterior of the house were filmed in East Anglia - and Ely Cathedral was used too, of course. Scenes showing the interior of the house were filmed in the studio.

[jrw]

'Tom's Midnight Garden' is amongst my all time favourites, although I've enjoyed all the Philippa Pearce novels that I've read.
'A Dog So Small' is another PP book I would recommend and it features very brief appearances from some of the characters in 'Minnow On The Say'.